Jimmy Dorsey Information & Jimmy Dorsey Links at HealthHaven.com

Jimmy Dorsey
	; Jimmy Dorsey playing alto saxophone in The Fabulous Dorseys (1947).
Background information
Birth name	James Dorsey
Born	February 29, 1904; Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	June 12, 1957 (aged 53); New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres	Big Band, Swing, Dixieland
Occupations	Bandleader, musician, composer
Instruments	Saxophone, Clarinet, Trumpet
Years active	1920s–1950s
Associated acts	Tommy Dorsey, California Ramblers, The Dorsey Brothers, The Charleston Chasers, Dorsey's Novelty Six

James "Jimmy" Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was a prominent American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader. He was known as "JD". He composed the standards "I'm Glad There is You (In This World of Ordinary People)" and "It's the Dreamer in Me".

[edit] Overview

Jimmy Dorsey was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, the son of a music teacher and older brother of Tommy Dorsey who also became a prominent musician. He played trumpet in his youth, appearing on stage in a Vaudeville act as early as 1913. He switched to alto saxophone in 1915, and then learned to double on clarinet. Jimmy Dorsey played on a clarinet outfitted with the Albert system of fingering, as opposed to the more common Boehm system used by most of his contemporaries including Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw.

With his brother Tommy playing trombone, he formed Dorsey’s Novelty Six, one of the first jazz bands to broadcast. In 1924 he joined the California Ramblers (who were based in New York City). He did much free lance radio and recording work throughout the 1920s. The brothers also appeared as session musicians on many jazz recordings. He joined Ted Lewis's band in 1930, with whom he toured Europe.

After returning to the United States, he worked briefly with Rudy Vallee and several other bandleaders, in addition to the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra with Tommy. Tommy broke off to form his own band in 1935 after a musical dispute with Jimmy. The Dorsey Brothers Orchestra became the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, and included musicians such as Bobby Byrne, Ray McKinley, and Skeets Herfurt along with vocalists Bob Eberly and Kay Weber.

In 1939 Jimmy hired Helen O'Connell as his female singer. She and Eberly possessed a "boy and girl next door" charm and their pairing produced several of the band's biggest hits. Many of the Eberly-O'Connell recordings were arranged in an unusual 3-section "a-b-c" format. The three-part format was reportedly developed at the insistence of a record producer who wanted to feature both singers and the full band in a single 3-minute 78 rpm recording. Eberly sang the first minute, usually as a slow romantic ballad, the next minute featured the full band backing Jimmy's saxophone, and the last minute was sung by O'Connell in a more up-tempo style, sometimes with lyrics in Spanish.

Jerry Lewis' first wife Patti Palmer (birth name Esther Calonico) was a singer with his orchestra for less than a year, starting about 1944.

Jimmy continued leading his own band until the early 1950s. In 1953 he joined Tommy's Orchestra, renamed "Tommy Dorsey and his Orch. featuring Jimmy Dorsey". On December 26, 1953, the brothers and their orchestra appeared on Jackie Gleason's CBS television program. The success of that television appearance led Gleason to produce a weekly variety program, Stage Show, hosted by the brothers on CBS from 1954 to 1956. Elvis Presley appeared on several of the telecasts. These were Presley's first appearances on national TV.

Jimmy took over leadership of the orchestra after Tommy's death. Jimmy survived his brother by only a few months and died of throat cancer, aged 53, in New York City. Broadcasts of Jimmy Dorsey and The Fabulous Dorsey Orchestra on NBC Bandstand survive from December 25, and December 31, 1956. At least two other extant broadcasts from the month of December 1956 are available as well. It is hoped that recordings of the band from their winter 1957 tour will surface eventually, as they would provide the last aural evidence of Dorsey's work. It is thought that Dorsey's last appearance was in Joplin, Missouri, on March 12, 1957.

Shortly before his death, he was awarded a gold record for "So Rare," which was recorded on November 11, 1956. Dick Stabile did not have the alto solo on "So Rare," it was Dorsey. In fact, Tommy Dorsey was so incensed by Jimmy's uncharacteristic solo that he believed that it would count against the Dorsey name. That track also has the distinction of reaching the number-two spot in Billboard Magazine's popularity rankings, becoming the highest-rated song by a big band during the first decade of the rock-and-roll era.

Jimmy Dorsey is considered one of the most important and influential alto saxophone players of the Big Band and Swing era.

[edit] Movie Appearances

Jimmy Dorsey appeared in a number of Hollywood motion pictures, including That Girl From Paris, Shall We Dance, The Fleet's In, Lost in a Harem with Abbot and Costello , I Dood It, and the bio-pic with his brother Tommy, The Fabulous Dorseys in 1947.

In 1938, Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra also appeared in a movie short performing many of his hits including "It's the Dreamer in Me", "I Love You in Technicolor", and "Parade of the Milk Bottle Caps".

[edit] Compositions by Jimmy Dorsey

Jimmy Dorsey composed "Mood Hollywood", "Shim Sham Shimmy", "So Many Times", recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra and Jack Teagarden and his Orchestra, "Beebe", "Oodles of Noodles", "John Silver", "Parade of the Milk Bottle Caps", "Dusk in Upper Sandusky" with Larry Clinton, "Shoot the Meatballs to Me Dominick Boy" with Toots Camarata, "A Man and his Drums", "Mutiny in the Brass Section", "Praying the Blues", "Contrasts", his theme song, "Major and Minor Stomp", "Tailspin", the classic jazz standard "I'm Glad There is You (In This World of Ordinary People)", "Clarinet Polka", "I Love You in Technicolor", "The Champ", "All The Things You Ain't", "Jumpin' Jehosaphat", "I'll Do Anything For You", "Dorsey Stomp", "Grand Central Getaway" with Dizzy Gillespie, "Sunset Strip" with Sonny Burke, "Town Hall Tonight", "Outer Drive" with Herb Ellis, the jazz standard "It's the Dreamer in Me", recorded by Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Paul Whiteman, Count Basie, Bing Crosby, and Harry James, and other songs during the Big Band Era.

Jimmy Dorsey co-wrote the jazz and pop standard "I'm Glad There is You (In This World of Ordinary People)" with Paul Madeira, who is also known as Paul Madeira Mertz, in 1941 and released the song on Decca as Decca 18799 with Dee Parker on vocals. "I'm Glad There is You" is a song that has been covered by Frank Sinatra, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Adam Jackson, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Grover Washington, Jr., Jamie Cullum, Lillie Kae, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Mildred Bailey, Ray Anthony, Shirley Bassey, Jack Jones, Smokey Robinson, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Natalie Cole, Julie London, Jackie Gleason, Cannonball Adderley, Rosemary Clooney, The Temptations, Toni Tennille, Chris Montez, Boots Randolph, Nancy LaMott, Wesla Whitfield, Matt Monro, The Four Freshmen, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dorothy Dandridge, Hazel Scott, Art Garfunkel, Stan Kenton, Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Stan Getz, Peggy Lee, Gloria Lynne, Vic Damone, and Freddy Cole.

[edit] Number One Hits

Jimmy Dorsey had eleven number one hits with his orchestra in the 1930s and the 1940s: "Is It True What They Say About Dixie?", "Change Partners", "The Breeze and I", "Amapola", "My Sister and I", "Maria Elena", "Green Eyes", "Blue Champagne", "Tangerine", "Besame Mucho", and "Pennies from Heaven" with Bing Crosby. In 1935, he had two more number ones as part of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra: "Lullaby of Broadway" and "Chasing Shadows". His biggest hit was "Amapola", which was number one for ten weeks in 1941 on the Billboard pop singles chart. On August 17, 1936, Bing Crosby recorded "Pennies from Heaven" with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, a recording that went number one for ten weeks and became one of the top records of 1936.

[edit] Honors

In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey commemorative postage stamp.

In 2008, the Recording Academy added the recording of "Brazil (Aquarela Do Brasil)", Decca 18460B, by Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra from 1942 to the Grammy Hall of Fame.

[edit] Filmography

The Fabulous Dorseys

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Big Band Serenade
Jimmy Dorsey at the Internet Movie Database
Jimmy Dorsey at the Internet Broadway Database
Jimmy Dorsey at Find a Grave
Robert L. Stockdale, "Jimmy Dorsey: A Study In Contrasts", Lanham, MD, The Scarecrow Press, c1999 (ISBN 0810835363 )

Contents